Family of Late Man Who Earned $20K a Month Sues Drivers Involved in the Fatal Accident for $1m

It was in 2015 when a tragic accident involving two drivers and three passengers occurred on the Central Expressway (CTE) and killed Irish expat Mr Donovan Andrew Keane.

Four years later, Mr Keane’s brother, Mr Colin Joseph Keane, has filed a lawsuit against the two drivers involved in the accident on behalf of the family, requesting for compensation of his brother’s life and the damage it had done to his parents.

The Victim

The late Mr Keane was apparently a director of information technology at Singtel, and was earning an average of $20,372 per month including allowances.

He was providing for his aged parents at the time too, both of who are very dependent on Mr Keane – whose life had been “considerably shortened” as he died at 41, according to his brother.

Now, he wishes to get compensation for the loss and damages suffered by their parents after the unfortunate death of Mr Keane.

How Did The Accident Happen?

Mr Ko Ngak Phweng, a taxi driver, had picked up Mr Keane and another passenger, Mr Anthony Gerard John Hall, from the airport and was sending them to Cairnhill at around midnight on 6 May 2015.

At the same time, part-time driver Ms Tan Yeow Kim was driving Mr Charles Robert Allenbach Jr to his home in Bukit Timah and missed the exit while on the CTE.

She then stopped the car to reverse and try to get to the exit, in the opposite direction at which the cars on the road were driving.

Unfortunately, these two cars and their fates collided when Mr Ko didn’t notice Ms Tan’s car trying to reverse at the leftmost lane and promptly rammed into the back of her Mercedes-Benz.

Mr Ko had actually admitted that he failed to keep a proper lookout in a court hearing in 2016. By the time he saw Ms Tan’s car, it was already too late to stop. Ms Tan’s car then surged forward and hit a bollard after Mr Ko hit her car from the back.

Mr Keane was sadly pronounced dead at Tan Tock Seng Hospital at around 2.20am, although the other two passengers managed to survive. He apparently suffered from “serious and debilitating” head and cervical spinal injuries from the accident, according to his brother, who blamed it on the negligence of both drivers.

Paid Their Dues

The two drivers were already sentenced for their crimes back then.

Mr Ko was sentenced to three weeks of jail time and was banned from driving for five years for causing the death of Mr Keane through his negligence, effectively losing his job since he was a taxi driver. Ms Tan was also sentenced to four weeks’ jail and banned from driving for five years for dangerous driving.

They’re Still Seeking Compensation 

Granted, it was not enough for Mr Keane’s family.

As both Mr Ko and Ms Tan had pleaded guilty, Mr Keane’s brother wishes to claim for damages in excess of at least $1 million. This sum includes a monthly $1,500 allowance to each parent, from Mr Keane’s death in 2015 all the way up to 10 years after the lawsuit has been completed.

Other costs include funeral expenses, grief counselling for his parents, and the costs of sending back Mr Keane’s personal belongings from Singapore and Australia all the way to Ireland.

Blame Game

The taxi driver denied his faults in defence papers that he submitted, claiming that Mr Keane’s death was due to the careless driving of Ms Tan, who had stopped and reversed her car on the highway. Additionally, he stated that it was also due to the fact that Mr Keane had failed to wear a seat belt.

Ms Tan also did the same, saying that she did switch on her hazard lights when she stopped her car near the bollards on the highway and had made sure to turn her head physically to look behind her for any other cars, having “slowly reversed her car as there were no motor vehicles approaching her from the rear”.

She attributed the accident to the negligence of Mr Ko, who was apparently driving at an excessive speed and didn’t keep a proper lookout. Ms Tan also claimed that Mr Keane sustained fatal injuries only because he failed to wear a seatbelt.

Even though she pleaded guilty for driving dangerously, it didn’t mean that she was admitting to have caused the accident and subsequently Mr Keane’s death, she added.